Regret and Moonlight
by stewart92
Summary: Regret is a strange word ponder Orihime.  ONESHOT.


After first writing Orihime in another story, I found to my interest how deep you can take this girl. Orihime was normal teen but at the same time dealt with so much more most. Instead of the usual emo or hermit route most traumatised anime characters take, she took the less travelled saint path. I like to call it that. She battle woes and evil with a smile and a golden heart. Most would call it the useless pacifier girl.

What most don't realise is that it's far easier to sink into anger and hate than fly with a smile.

-**BLEACH-**

Regret was a funny thing. To regret you must experience. To regret you must truly think what you have done. To regret you must truthfully care. Orihime had done all of this and more.

Inoue Orihime was often well aware of what people thought of her in her home town of Karakura. A ditzy empty headed girl. Over active imagination brat. Big boob no brain hime. These were one of the nicer ones.

Orihime didn't listen to them, people who had time to gossip instead of learn or help others didn't often garner her attention. But she smiled at them anyway. It confused them. Orihime liked who she was and how she behaved, it was fun. To her, it's easier to look up and enjoy the sky than stare at the empty dirty road.

Not ignorance, just preference.

After her brother died, Orihime just existed, no laughter, no sadness, no dreams. No soul. She woke, eat, learned and slept. It was a numb existence. But a light came in the form of an unlikely source.

Arisawa Tatsuki. Her best friend.

A girl the same age, who (in Orihime's opinion) had more strength, passion and guts than Orihime hadn't seen since her brother was alive.

Tatsuki didn't skirt around the issue like neighbours or adults or prod gently like her psychiatrist. No that wasn't and still isn't Tatsuki's method. Tatsuki grabbed a hold of her and shook her so hard Orihime's head was still spinning till this day.

Tatsuki told her she was being stupid and commanded Orihime to stand up and laugh. Orihime didn't leave Tatsuki's sight that day until she gave some hesitant chuckles. Even then Tatsuki told Orihime to bring a deep stomach laugh tomorrow to school.

One straight from the heart.

Of course she stared into the mirror, her lips twitching. But couldn't summon a laugh.

She failed. How unexpected.

She felt terrible the next morning when she saw a impertinent Tatsuki drawing on her desk. Orihime tried to sit quietly without drawing Tatsuki's attention but she failed and when Tatsuki asked how she got on with her laugh, Orihime burst into tears there and then.

It felt silly looking back but failing Tatsuki meant far more to Orihime than some silly laugh. Tatsuki being a true friend threatened to beat the snot out of those who were laughing at her before evacuating Orihime out of school.

They went to the shopping area where Tatsuki took her to ice-cream shop that held 'unusual' flavours. Tatsuki claimed it was the most interesting place to eat all around. It was due to Tatsuki's kindness that helped Orihime find her hobby of unusual food making.

Ice-cream with ramen. Ice-cream with squid. Ice-cream with salt. And so many more. Tatsuki and Orihime got braver with each order. The owner was a jolly man and gave them free samples one and a while. Orihime had found her sanctuary in times of need.

The shop closed in the coming years and became some popular perfume shop that all the girls in school day-dreamed about buying from. Orihime was sad but she didn't want another shaking from Tatsuki, so she waved off the owner with a sad smile as he drove his car out of town. She hadn't heard from him since. Orihime wondered if he was still around.

High school wrapped it's manacles around them. It was there that more emotions erupted into life. Her first crush, her worst girl-enemy, new friends and…Kurosaki-kun.

He came later though.

It wasn't hard to adapt to the high school life style. Get up, find your uniform, go to school, meet Tatsuki on the way, gingerly avoid Chizuru wandering hands and arrive at the building. Learning was easy for her. It never complicated her life. The routine soon felt comfortable and already others were noticing her. For being smart at first then her changing body and at last her strange eccentric food taste.

The nicknames followed her like flies. She hated them the most.

But thankfully to her friends she was always Orihime-chan. Their friend.

Life remained the same until that fateful night. The night where her brother Sora succumb to his negative emotions and tried to kill her. That was worse than any torture that fate could of sent. Her wonderful brother Sora, who had always loved her …wanted her dead.

That feeling alone threatened to destroy her. Then her class mate, her friend, her…crush? Kurosaki Ichigo appeared to save Orihime and in the end did that and saved her brother.

Orihime never forgot that night. She kept the scene to her self, feinting amnesias like her friend Tatsuki she lied to the world to help Kurosaki-kun. Then not soon after Hollows (not that she knew that's what they were called.) attacked the school, attacked her friends and attacked Tatsuki. Unforgivable. Orihime remembered that day well, the day her power manifested and helped her defeat the monster.

Shunou, Ayame, Lily, Baigon, Hinagiku and Tsubaki. Orihime's inner personas, her powers, her fairies and her friends. It was from them that she learned to be strong enough to be useful. They proved useful too not long after. Kuchiki Rukia, her class mate and Shinigami was taken home, against her will.

She went with Ichigo to save the damsel from the deadly Shinigami. Kurosaki-kun, Orihime decide played the rescuing prince rather well. After the soul society fiasco life returned to a semi-state of normal filled with the supernatural. For Orihime who could see hollows and couldn't turn a blind eye, that was the closest she was going to get.

Then the Bounts appeared, science mistakes, rejects, hunted animals. It made Orihime pity them for there existence. She didn't do much Orihime reckoned. She fought one of the bount who used Kuchiki-san as a puppet or a shield before managing to free her and after that acted medic which suit Orihime fine.

Then the Arrancar came. Nothing could prepare her for them. Yammy the brute mortally injured Sado. The small more lithely one Ulquiorra just stared at her.

So cold, so green.

Orihime could remember thinking those thoughts right away. The eyes were so…lonely. To her awe and relieve Kurosaki-kun came then and fought them off long enough for both her and Sado to escape. She felt weak and incompetent.

To rectify this She and Kuchiki-san travelled to the soul society to train. Orihime felt happy about that, to be doing something to help was a good feeling. But when she tried to return home. He appeared again.

So cold. So green.

He told her to come or her friends would perish and it would be her fault. Orihime couldn't, wouldn't handle that. Her friends were her life and she would protect them. Her life would mean nothing if they were to die because of her. Tatsuki, Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san.

Orihime was given twenty fours hours to say goodbye. She did and it killed her.

Orihime arrived in Hueco Mundo a broken girl.

Looking up at the permanent crescent moon, Orihime wondered. Did she regret her live?

. To regret you must experience. To regret you must truly think what you have done. To regret you must truthfully care. But also Orihime thought. To regret is to have never wanted to happen in the first place. She did not regret this, never.

"Your lunch is ready."

Orihime turned around and gave Ulquiorra a bright smile.

"Thank you! Would you like to try some?"

**-BLEACH-**

So tell me realistic Ori? Or Not really? This is a girl you can have fun with. that's just personality wise, her…powers just add to it J


End file.
